In a provocative essay published in the March/April 2000 issue of ARCHAEOLOGY
(see "Archaeology's Perilous Pleasures"), the distinguished historian David Lowenthal admonishes
archaeologists to acknowledge "the harm as well as the good" that has
resulted from archaeology's alleged "devotion to priority, to tangibility,
and to contemporary relevance," and "to face up more frankly to often
justified public doubts about the rectitude of the discipline." As
Christopher Chippindale comments in his response (see "Archaeology's Proper Place"), Lowenthal's ideas are mostly "misdirected," and have less to do with
archaeologists and their practice than with the nature of time, contemporary
society, and historians themselves. There is, however, some steel behind
Lowenthal's gentle admonitions and expressions of concern, and he touches on
some issues--the relation of archaeology to nationalism, politics, and
preservation--that others deal with in harsher terms. In some cases,
Lowenthal's complaints are not just "misdirected." He is operating under
some delusions about archaeology and archaeologists. In his column, Wiseman
takes up the three attributes of archaeology from which Lowenthal claims the
discipline's current public popularity arises, and which are simultaneously
attractive and troublesome to him: antiquity, tangibility, and contemporary
social and political issues.

James Wiseman is a contributing editor to ARCHAEOLOGY and is professor of archaeology, art history, and classics at Boston University.